Changing Horizons
by DatGooz
Summary: After the events of Age of Ultron, Steve and Natasha decide to leave The Avengers and join the new Shield. Agents of Shield story with characters from The Avengers, Steve and Natasha at first, maybe more in the future, most of the AoS Characters.
1. Chapter 1

_**A.N: Right! Well this is my first AoS fanfiction and I'm not quite sure which direction I'm going to be taking it. I think it's going to mostly be focussing on friendship with mentions of Cannon pairings, Bruce/Natasha for example. Full disclosure I'm a hardcore Steve/Natasha shipper but I'm not sure if I want to explore that in this fic because I kind of really like what you can do with their friendship. But I'm entirely open to suggestions so I've you have feel free to leave them in a review. Hope you enjoy!**_

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 **Avengers Facility**

"You know you don't have to come with me"

"I know"

"I'm not doing this because I have anything against the team if that's what you're thinking"

"I know, and I'm not"

"I just feel like, when you have an all-powerful, near enough invincible android, a young woman with incredible and terrifying powers that I can't even begin to comprehend, and a less grating iron man, you don't really need a guy with a shield that can run fast and hit fairly hard"

"I know, and I get it Steve, really I do, don't you think I feel the same, hell don't you think Sam feels the same?"

"He's an extremely skilled pilot, with a wing suit, and who can keep the team grounded, you're the teams resident master of all things espionage, I'm a grunt, nothing more, that's why I loved being a part of Shield, being part of the Strike team, before I knew they were Hydra, obviously" He lets out a laugh.

"Obviously" She smiles softly at him.

"I had a place in Shield, I felt like I was making a difference. As much as I love being part of the Avengers, I feel like my role could be filled by anyone, and not much would change."

"While I disagree with you there, I know what you mean, and if this is your decision, you know I'll support you, 100%"

He smiles at her "I know that Nat, but I need you to know that I wouldn't begrudge you for staying here, if that's what you want"

"Of course I know that Steve, I know you, you're not the type to begrudge" She smirks "And I think this is the right choice for me too, it sure as hell feels right, ever since we found out that Shield is still up and running."

"I know, I'm actually amazed that you never knew, doesn't seem like something you would miss" All of a sudden he smirks, a mischievous glint in his eye "Was it maybe because you were a little preoccupied with other things perhaps" He asks, bumping hips with her.

"Stow it, soldier" She quips, but he can still see the sadness in her eyes.

"Nat seriously, he'll come back, he just needs to work through some things, but when he does he'll come straight back to you" He smiles softly, feeling guilty for bringing it up and causing her more pain.

She smiles back "I know he will, I just hope it's sooner rather than later" She says, laying her head on his shoulder. He wraps an arm around her, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

 **Shield headquarters**

"All right, we're going back to the basics for this one guys, Hydra's got some tech that we'd really rather they didn't, and that's why we're here today, we plan to do something about that" At this, the team turn to him, somewhat incredulous. Hunter is the first to speak up, naturally.

"Hydra? I thought Earths Mightiest Heroes Dealt with those evil foes in their evil castle lair, I mean strategically located base of operations" Hunter remarked, earning a snort from Fitz leading him to earn an elbow to the gut from an irritated Simmons.

Coulson looked on, exasperated but amused, before answering "Well, I'm sure you knows Hydras favourite saying and all, but seriously though, Intel suggests they have new management in place, and they look to be getting back on their feet at an alarmingly quick rate.

At this everyone sobered quickly, fully aware of what Hydra is capable of. This time, it was Skye to speak up "So what exactly is the mission sir?"

"Although they were seriously downsized, as we are all well aware of, they still have plenty of resources at their disposal, we still haven't recovered half of the things that we're taken by Hydra from when Shield fell. However we recently became aware of a particular item that Hydra has in its possession, one that we would very much like to take back, and where to find it. This is something that needs to be dealt with quickly, and quietly"

"Any reason a full assault is out of the question? We've dealt with Hydra before, we know how they operate." Bobby questions.

"The package is far too sensitive. We know from our sources that Hydra has certain plans in place if something like that were too happen, measures that would cost a lot of lives. We do this quiet, that's the only way."

"Don't suppose you're going to tell us what the hell it is then?" Hunter asks, a little worried.

"All you need to know for now is that it's very dangerous, and the sooner we get it out of Hydras hands, the better" May responds, giving him a fierce stare.

Hunter raises his hands in surrender "Alright, fair enough"

Bobby shakes her head "So what's the plan boss?"

"The plan is to send a four man Strike team in to infiltrate the facility, taking out whatever is in-between them and their objective, they'll retrieve the package, once that's secured, they'll move on to secure the rest of the building. Just because this is the only item of importance we know that's being held here, doesn't mean there won't be more that they can identify once inside. We're doing this tonight people, there's no time to spare on this one."

"Alright, time to gear up" Skye says out loud to herself as they all stand up.

"Actually Skye, that won't be necessary this time, you'll be in a more passive role with May, hacking security." Coulson says, knowing that Skye might not be too thrilled about that.

Skye huffs out a breath, near enough indignant "Come on Coulson, there's plenty of techs on base who could do that, I think I've proved that I can still handle myself in field as well as anyone else"

At this, Coulson smiles "As true as that may be, and it is, we've got a couple of new potential new recruits and I want to use this mission to see what they are capable of, and I think for this mission the best fit for them would be Bobby and Hunter."

Skye nods in understanding "Yes sir" Coulson smiles softly at her.

Before Coulson can continue, Hunter Jumps in "Crap, does this mean I need to babysit a couple of newbies, because I really don't want to do that." Bobby rolls her eyes.

"I wouldn't quite call them newbies, they've both been in the game for a while now" Coulson says to Hunter, before turning to face Bobby "Bobby, you'll be running point on this one, Hunter and the recruits will be on your infiltration team, May and Skye will be on exfil with the Quinjet. May's going to be piloting with Skye disabling security and monitoring communications in and out of the facility, everyone clear?"

After a round of responses in the affirmative, Hunter is unsurprisingly the one to finally broach the subject "So who exactly are these "Potential" new recruits you seem to be hyping up so much?"

After receiving a long suffering look from May, Coulson responds, with a hint of amusement "You'll meet them soon enough, don't worry"

After going over the intricacies of the plan for a while, the door swings open to reveal two figures walking through, and jaws collectively hit the floor, all except for May and Coulson, who both look mildly amused.

"Is this for real?" Skye asks, utterly dumbfounded.

"Yup" Coulson responds nonchalantly, he then proceeds to make the proper introductions.

"Aren't you two a little busy with your avengering and general saving the world to be working alongside us lowly grunts?"

"You forget Agent Hunter, that both of us were at one point Shield agents" Steve Rogers replies.

"And don't forget agents who both worked there for a lot longer than you have, although, SAS? Pretty impressive I have to admit" Natasha smirks.

At this, Hunter looked a little caught off guard. "You've done your research"

"I'm good like that" She smirks again, blowing a bubble with her gum.

"Right, well now that everyone's been introduced to one another, time to gear up, we're on the clock people lets go." Coulson says, dismissing the team.

Before Natasha can leave to prep for the mission, Bobby walks up to her and gives her a hug "It's good to see you again Nat"

"You too Bobby, it's been way too long" Natasha smiles as she pulls back, it really had been a while since she had last seen her friend. As she turned around, she caught sight of Rogers and Hunter bickering away. She smiled and turned to Bobby "They look like they'll get along straight away"

Bobby turned back to suddenly looking a little more serious "So you guys really are considering staying here with us?"

Natasha didn't want to talk about this quite yet "Yeah, but I'll talk to you all about it later, but for now, let's go save the world" She grinned.

Bobby gave a short laugh "Oh I don't know about that, isn't that a job for The Mighty Avengers?"

"Oh shut it you!" They both laughed as they walked along the corridor.

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 ** _Well, that's the first chapter, hope you enjoyed! Feedback is greatly appreciated, whether it's to tell me you liked it, hated it, or have any criticism please, I love it all! I'm going to try and update as soon as possible( I don't have a great track record honestly) so hopefully I'll have that within the week!_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: Right, well, not entirely sure if I like how this turned out, I feel like it may be pretty poor but feedback would help massively. If it turns out that it's no good, then I'm fine rewriting it, that's what I get for starting writing a story at 4 in the morning. Anyway, tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy.**_

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Chapter 2

Shield Headquarters, Equipment Room

As hunting is checking the equipment that he needs for this next mission, he turns around and is met with quite a sight: Captain America in a jet black version of his old Shield Strike Suit, minus the silver stars and stripes "Are my eyes deceiving me, am I truly seeing the great Captain America out of his patriotic Stars and Stripes? Whatever has the world come to?"

"Laugh it up Cockney, and for the record, I didn't choose the colour scheme for the suit"

"Oh?"

"What, you think I would want to choose colours that paint a target on my back?"

"Well, I always assumed it was the whole ultra-patriotism thing, and that you kind of got behind it"

"I was a poster boy for the war, I helped out that way, I did shows in these bright, flashy suits that were supposed to symbolize America. Unfortunately when I eventually did go to war, and when I woke up from the ice, the name and everything just sort of stuck" He felt like he was sharing a lot with this guy he'd only just met, but then again he'd done the same thing with Sam and that turned out pretty well. Hunter seems like he could become a friend he trusts, there aren't many of them going around right now.

"So you don't like being Captain America then?"

"Captain America is a symbol, people look up to him, I get that, but at the end of the day, I'm a soldier, you know?"

"Yeah I get you" Suddenly Hunter snorts, causing Steve to raise a questioning eyebrow "It's just that I've known you like 20 minutes and I know something that I imagine not many other people know."

Steve stops to consider this for a second, it's true that this isn't the kind of thing he goes around sharing. When people think about Captain America they get a certain idea in their heads, of someone who is more than just a man, a legend, an embodiment of the country he serves, when at the end of the day, he's just a guy in a ridiculous costume with a big round shield. He decides it's probably time to lighten up the mood. "If I do join Shield, I might have to drop the name"

At this, hunter whips his head around in utter shock, and Steve can't help but have a quiet chuckle to himself "What? No way, you're Captain Fucking America man, you're a legend"

Still chuckling, he gives a short "We'll see" And gets back to checking his equipment.

"So what's up with you and Romanoff?" The question catches him so of guard that he almost drops the pistol he's cleaning.

"What do you mean?" He said, still recovering from the seemingly random question.

"Come on mate, I'm not blind, there's clearly something going on between you two, it's pretty damn obvious"

At this, Steve laughs, "I think you're reading too much into things Hunter, besides, Nat already has someone important to her" Shit, Nat's going to kill me if he starts asking her questions about that.

"Ohh, do tell" Steve's pretty sure he should be wary of the look Hunter is sending his way.

Time to change tactics "Not my story, anyway, what about you and Bobby?" Deflecting usually works a charm.

"Got married, got divorced, got back together recently until I found her and another agent were actually working for a different Shield they also pretty much kidnapped me, long story"

"Sounds it"

"Don't think I'm not going to grill you about this later though spangles" Hunter checked his watch "We should probably head out"

"Yes sir"

"Don't call me that"

"Don't call me Spangles"

Shield Headquarters, Hanger

As Steve and Hunter walked over to the Quinjet, they met Natasha and Bobbi outside, where Bobby made a show of checking Hunter over for injuries, she turned to Steve "Wow, you managed to not pummel him, I'm impressed by your restraint"

At this, Steve came out with an evil grin, "Oh I'm sure he'd be happy to spar with me later" At this, Hunter did look a little nervous.

Natasha gave Steve a quick look over in his suit "Nice suit, I like your choice of colour"

"Well, it is a stealth mission, so I imagine the old red, white and blue might not be too appropriate" Steve produced his best shit-eating grin "Plus I remember how you used to always check me out in the Strike Suit, so I thought you might like it"

At this, Natasha acting faux shocked, said "Steven Grant Rogers! I thought you were of a more civilized era!" When Steve responded only with a tilt of his head, Natasha employed her signature smirk and said "Well, you can't blame a girl for looking, it was certainly snug"

At this, Steve Barked out a laugh "Come on, let's get this started"

As they climbed aboard the Quinjet, Bobbi and Hunter shared a look, and just shook their heads, laughing.

As everyone got on board May turned around from the pilots seat to address them "Not that we're all here, we can go over each person's role, I'll insert you close to the facility but not close enough that they can detect us if they have that kind of equipment on hand. There will be an exfil point and I expect you to be there on time, if something goes wrong, keep me up to speed. Skye will be hacking any security they might have that could stop you from getting where you need to be. You will stay in the Quinjet with me, do you understand Skye?"

Steve could tell that this kind of thing might have been a problem in the past "Yes ma'am" Skye replied, rolling her eyes.

"Morse is in charge of the infiltration team, so that means you follow her orders, that includes you two, Hunter, Romanoff."

All she got was an "Uh huh" from Hunter and an eye roll from Romanoff.

Steve shook his head "Nat"

"Fine, yes, I will happily follow orders" She smiled tightly at him.

"See, that wasn't so hard was it Nat" Steve said sarcastically, she kicked him.

They went over every detail of the mission, positions, timings, known security systems, unknowns, variables and although he wasn't usually the type, he felt he need to say something. "You know we're not fresh out of boot camp, we have done missions like these before, quite effectively I might add"

Natasha snorted "Looks like caps finally grown a pair" Causing him to glare at her, and having her wink right back, honestly sometimes she was too much.

He turned back around to face Agent May and the look he received in return was one he never wanted to see again "Well, Captain" She said in an icy tone "as I'm sure you know, Shield works a bit differently to your Avengers, we actually have plans, and chains of command, and we have this for a reason, do you understand?"

At this point Steve really wishes he had a filter for some of the crap that comes out of his mouth, but instead of saying this, he simply says "Y-yes ma'am"

Natasha shook her head while Hunter gave him a look of almost sympathy, Steve could guess that he might have had to go through something similar.

May turns back around "We're near the drop off, make sure you've got everything and get ready"

At this he makes sure his Shield is secure on his back, his pistol in its holster and he picks up his rifle to give it a last check, he turns to see Natasha watching him curiously "Never pegged you for the gun type"

He chuckles, and says "Turns out it's pretty hard to fight a war with just a shiny hunk of metal, also it turns out that smashing someone in the face with said shiny hunk of metal can create quite a bit of noise"

"Wow cap, leaving the Avengers seems to have done wonders for your personality" Natasha says with no small hint of amusement.

"To be honest, I don't think leadership was right for me, I much prefer taking the orders to giving them" He says with a smile.

In response she takes his hand and squeezes "I think we made the right choice coming to work for Shield again"

He squeezes back "I do too"

Hunter decides to interrupt the moment "So uh, are you two just going to sit there and stare into each other's eyes all day, cause we kind of have a super important package to retrieve?"

Steve looks away, embarrassed while Natasha turns calmly to Hunter "You know what I love about these Widows bites?" She asks, pointing to her wrists, Hunter shakes his head suddenly nervous while Bobby looks on, amused "Well I love how customisable they are, for example I can have them stun, or kill, but I can also set them so that they cause as much pain as possible with no lasting effects, and when applied to certain areas, the effects can be, devastating. Do you get what I'm saying, Agent Hunter?" Natasha asks every so sweetly, causing him to squeak out in the affirmative. Meanwhile everyone else, including May, are holding in their laughter.

"We're here, remember what you need to do" May says as they touch down.

Skye turns around towards them "Good luck guys" She smiles meekly.

Steve points Natasha towards the opening ramp "After you"

Natasha reciprocates, amused "Why thank you"

Once, they're clear of the Quinjet, Bobbi turns round to face the other three, looking serious as Steve's seen her "Let's move out, on me"

In response there was a chorus of "Copy that's" and they were off.


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: I'd like to give a quick thank you to**_ cmjfire14 _**and a guest, who both reviewed and gave the idea of bringing Skye into the forefront of the mission to bail them out. I hadn't actually thought about it before but it's actually a great idea, so you'll probably see her play a bigger role in the next couple of chapters, maybe May as well. So thank you both for the great reviews! Working on the next chapter right now so I hope to get that done soon as possible. Hope you enjoy!**_

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As they moved towards the facility, they started to realize that things were a bit more serious than they thought. They reached a hill that had a good overlook of the main building from various angles, crouched down and scoped out the area. After a while, Cap was the first to speak up "Alright, I can see the main entrance, looks like 4 guards on the main gate, and 2 patrols going past, one passes every 5 minutes, there's also the guards dotted around the complex, traffic in and out fairly frequent, mostly cars with the occasional truck"

"Copy that Rogers, Hunter, what have you got on your end?"

"East gate is about the same, 4 guards on the gate, patrols only passing every 10 minutes though and traffic less frequent, but most coming in this way are trucks, possible way in if no other viable options present themselves"

"Good work, we'll keep it in mind, Romanoff?"

"Back of the facility doesn't have much going on, lights are sparse and personnel even more so, if you can clear the fence then it provides a pretty good entrance to get in undetected."

"And how do you suppose you'd clear the fence Natasha" Steve asked, pretty sure what was coming, but was hoping he was wrong.

"What do you think Rogers, you give me a boost obviously" Dammit, he was right, of course she'd want to try this crazy shit again.

"A boost that would clear a 20 foot wall?" Hunter asked, incredulous.

"Nat, that was pot luck and we both know it" He really doesn't want to do this.

Before Natasha could respond, Bobbi jumped in "Do you two want to fill us in on just what the hell you're talking about" She said, beginning to sound agitated.

"You can do the honours Cap" Now he could definitely hear the smirk in her Voice.

Sighing, Steve responded "Fine, during the Battle of New York, Nat needed to get up to Stark Tower, best way to do that was with a Chitauri hover bike, thing, so I gave her a boost with my shield so she could reach one. But Nat I seriously doubt I could get you over a twenty foot was straight up."

"That's why you won't be launching me straight up, we'll start from the hillside, angle it just right so that I can clear the fence no problem"

"Cap, do you reckon that would work?" Bobbi asked, crazy as it sounded it was their quickest way to get her people in.

Rubbing his hand down his face, Steve considered it "I think so, yeah, I don't see why not, just don't forget to roll"

Bobbi gave a short chuckle "Okay good, we've got our in, what about you though Cap, how would you get in?" Realizing that this would leave Rogers on the outside with no easy way in.

Steve observed his surroundings, thinking, calculating, he reached a decision. "I can see a point where the hillside is fairly close to the fence, I reckon it wouldn't be too much of a worry to clear, only problem though is that once I got in, I'd pretty much be at the east gate, plenty of guys that could get lucky and see me"

At this Skye piped up "Temporary power fluctuation nearby, not enough to make then consider outside tampering, but enough so that they will need to deal with it and they'll be distracted. Could give you just enough time to slip by unnoticed."

Bobbi smiled "Nice work Skye, have you got enough access of their systems to cause some disruption?"

"I do but I don't have access to any of the security, if you want that you're going to need to send someone to the Security room when you get inside and attach one of the bugs I gave you to the terminal"

"One step at a time Skye, but good work" Bobbi said "Rogers, Hunter, Converge on Romanoff"

"Copy that"

"Yes Ma'am"

Once they arrived, Steve got to positioning to where he could best boost them over, once he was ready Bobbi was the first to go, as she got ready to jump, the tension was thick, but she just smirked "Might as well get it over with right?" She ran full speed towards the shield and jumped on to it. As soon as she touched the surface, she was launched. She cleared the fence no problem. "I'm in, Hunter, you're up"

At this, Hunter paled slightly, Steve seeing this smirked, knowing the quickest way to get him to do it would be to goad him "Come on Hunter, you're not seriously scared are you, I thought you SAS boys were the best in the world "Who dares wins" and all that"

Hunter narrowed his eyes focused on the shield and got a running start, and pulled off the jump just fine and was now over with Bobbi "Romanoff, you're up"

"Copy that Bobbi, be there in a second"

"What, is the great Natasha Romanoff scared of a li-"Before he could finish his sentence Natasha had made her way over to him and hugged him fiercely.

"Stay safe Steve, please"

He chuckled softly, it always warmed his heart when she had these rare moments of vulnerability with him, especially considering that there isn't many people she would be willing to be this open with, and he's happy to be counted as one of them "As long as you promise to as well Nat"

And just like that, when she pulled away, the usual fire was back in her eyes, and as she walked a good enough distance away to get a running start, she looked at him over her shoulder and said "Try not to stare as my ass so much this time around, I mean, I know it's magnificent but I'd rather not get launched into the fence because you were distracted"

It took a lot of self-control for Steve to not burst out laughing, over the years that he's gotten to know Natasha, he's learned that she's loves to embarrass him, so he's started to build up a tolerance to the barbs to stop him from blushing so damn much "I can't promise anything Ma'am, but I'll try my best" At that, she winked at him and started running. She launched flawlessly and cleared the fence like it was nothing.

Bobbi was the first on the comms "Cap, the three of us are clear, we'll try and scope out the area while we wait for you, try and be as quick as possible okay?

"Wilco, I'm on the move" Steve started to move silently through the hillside, heading towards the east gate on his way, he thought it best to contact Skye, "Skye do you copy?"

After a brief second "I'm here Cap, you in position?"

"Affirmative, ready when you are"

"Just give me just a second, and, there!" As soon as she said this, Steve noticed a spark in a portable generator not too far from him, he saw that the nearby patrol and other personnel were distracted by the commotion so he knew it was now or never, he took a few paces back, centred himself, and took off sprinting. Just before he reached they edge of the hill he bent his knees and put everything he had into the jump and cleared the fence no problem, landing in a well-practiced, silent roll and onto his feet. "I'm in, presence still unknown, looks like they believed that Skye's decoy was just faulty wiring, good work Skye"

"It was nothing really, I'm happy to help" She replied enthusiastically.

"We're at the same spot Cap, get over ASAP"

"Acknowledged Bobbi" Steve replies, checking his surroundings. Inside the facility walls, there were plenty of places that could be used to get by unseen, it was just the matter of avoiding cameras and any base personnel. Taking it nice and careful, he managed to avoid being detected and made to where the rest of the team were laying low.

Natasha was, naturally the first one to greet him once he reached them "Nice of you to finally join us Soldier, was beginning to think you were slowing down in your old age"

"Ah, back to the classics are we?"

"Well I thought that would suit you just fine"

"Damn, pretty much walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Yep"

Steve smiles and looks up, only to find Bobbi and Hunter staring at them, he quickly turns his attention to Bobbi "What's the plan from here?"

Bobbi smiles, if she was being honest with herself, she thought that after all that she heard, working with Captain America meant playing by his rules, following his orders. But no, he's been more than happy to take orders and contribute as part of a team, she could definitely see him becoming a permanent member of shield, and thriving, too. She still wasn't sure why'd they'd both give up the Avengers for this but she supposed she'd find out in due time. "Natasha, once we locate the security room, can you be Skye's eyes and ears in there? Make sure everything goes down smoothly, since it's safe to say that you're probably the most tech savvy out of us" Ignoring Hunters indignant look, she continued on "Cap, you're with me, we're going to be looking for the package and hunter, I need you on look out, if anyone gets too close for comfort, take them out" She looks around the group "That goes for everyone, this is a purely Hydra facility, there's no chance of civilians getting caught in the crossfire, if you need to take the shot, take it. Are we clear? Does everyone know their orders?" After receiving all answers in the affirmative, she starts moving "Good, let's move out"


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry for the lack of updates! This chapter just came a lot slower than I would have hoped, but I'll try and get new ones out quicker I promise! Anyway, I would like to give a massive thank you to everyone who reviewed, it really helps to see what people think, especially since I tend to hate whatever I write so just thank you! I also would love some feedback on whether you guys would like to see any pairings or not, I'm not sure since I kind of like the Steve/Nat friendship and thought Steve/Bobbi or Steve/Skye could be interesting, even though I do love Steve/Nat.**

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"Two cameras up ahead, we've got about a three second gap where neither camera will be on the door so it's best to go one at a time, we need to move fast" Bobbi says as she observes their surroundings, planning their next move. She looks towards Natasha "Natasha, you're up first"

Natasha nods her head "Got it boss"

Bobbi rolls her eyes "On my count, three, two, one" Natasha sprints silently towards the door, getting through without an issue "Right Hunter, ready?"

"Of course" He replies cockily.

"Three, two, one" She whispers, Hunter takes off, only just making it in before the camera got to the door "Cocky prick"

"Picking up a bit of his lingo, are you boss?" Steve said amusedly.

"Don't you start with this boss crap too, on my count Rogers" Steve nods "Three, two, one, go" Steve sprinted across the distance, still making sure not to make a sound as he went, and slipped through the door to find Natasha and Hunter waiting expectantly, however there was a few uninvited guests alongside them, in the form of a couple of the guards bodies"

"I'm assuming those two didn't cause any issues?"

"Of course not, what do you take me for Rogers, an amateur?" Natasha looks offended, still managing a smirk though.

"I would never dream of thinking such thoughts about you Nat, Hunter here on the other hand well…"

"Hey! I take offence that you know, don't go pulling me into your little lovers tiff" At this, Steve looked embarrassed, while Natasha just raised an eyebrow.

"Cut the chatter you three, the idea of infiltration is generally not to get caught" Bobbi says, shaking her head.

"Status report Agent Morse" Mays no nonsense voice crackles across the comms.

"We're in the main building, still undetected, can you tell us anymore about what we're looking for May?" Bobbi asks.

At this, May sighs "We're not entirely sure Morse, we only have some fairly solid Intel that Hydra is storing something dangerous here"

Hunter cuts in before Bobbi has a chance to even respond "Fairly solid? Somehow that's not very reassuring"

"I don't need you reassured Agent Hunter, I need you to do your damn job, May out" She finished with an icy tone.

"You really can't keep your mouth shut, can you Lance?" Bobbi said, sighing, she then turned to Natasha, who was looking on amusedly the entire time "I trust you can make your way to the security room no problem Romanoff?"

"Obviously"

"Then get to it, take Hunter with you" She then turned her attention towards Hunter "Once she's inside and set up, start sweeping for any Hydra agents, take out any you find, and until Skye get into their systems, watch out for any security measures, I'm talking to you Hunter"

"Please, I think I know how to avoid a few cameras" Bobbi rolled her eyes and signalled them to go and Natasha and Hunter both headed up the stairs.

"Steve, well, let's get lookin" She smiled grimly. He nodded in response. They headed silently along the main corridor, soon the corridor split in two different directions.

Steve looked towards Bobbi "Until Skye gets into their systems we don't know anything about the layout, we'd be best to split up, cover more ground" He quickly realizes his mistake in going into "Captain Mode" and sent a quick, timid smile in her direction "Sorry, your op, your call"

She laughed softly, and then waved him off "We're a team now, and besides, it's a good call, I'll take the right, you go left"

"Yes Ma'am" Steve replies going fully into soldier mode.

"Bobbi, Steve, not ma'am" She smiles softly at him shaking her head "Radio if you find anything that looks vaguely important"

As Steve splits off from Bobbi, he starts systematically checking each room for any potential dangerous tech, suddenly, a thought pops into his head and he puts a hand up to his comm "What do we do once we've cleared the building?"

It's May who answers him "We blow the place, make sure there's nothing left for Hydra to pick up the pieces"

Steve nods his head in agreement, but then realises that she can only here him "Copy that"

"Romanoff, update" May says in an all business tone.

"Encountered a few obstacles on our way here, currently uploading Skye's program, she should have control any second now"

Skye then pipes up over the line "Got it, I've got full access, disabling security and looping cameras, in case anyone else is watching"

"Good work Skye. Natasha, Hunter, start sweeping your floor, keep me updated"

After their answers, Steve frowned a little, as he was going through yet another empty room "There's something not right about this. We've barely encountered any resistance; personal, security measures. Even with Hydra fractured, there should be more here"

May is the first one to respond "From what we know, this is a pretty low level facility, so there wouldn't be that much security anyway"

"But we've seen a hell of a lot of activity going in and out for such a small base, and the fact that we're searching for something that has Coulson worried doesn't exactly scream "Low level facility" does it?"

"Steve's right, it doesn't add up, May, how sure are you we can trust this source?" Bobbi pitches in, sounding a bit more cautious herself.

"Sure enough to bet your lives on it" May replies calmly, with just a tiny bit of irritation mixed in.

"Well that's comforting" Hunter quips.

"The longer we stand here arguing, the more likely it is Hydra will figure out what's going on, can we please get moving?" Natasha sighs, annoyed by the entire exchange.

"On the second floor, there's a room with two guards on posted at the door, no cameras to see what's going on inside though" Skye adds, nervously.

"Hunter, Romanoff check it out, let me know what you find"

"Copy that" Natasha replies emotionlessly, which Steve recognises as her slipping into her "Widow mode" as he likes to call it.

"Anything yet, Rogers?"

"Just some empty rooms, looks like most of them haven't been used in a long time" Steve frowns, something still didn't sit right with this.

Bobbi looks mildly concerned at this "Just keep it up, nothing on my end either"

"Copy that Bobbi" Steve replies as he sweeps yet another empty room.

"How's it coming along with you two Romanoff?"

Natasha's mic turns on, and before she responds a sound that is distinctly similar to a neck snapping comes through the line "We're in, there's some sort of crate in the middle of the room"

"Don't open it" May's stern voice comes across the line "We don't know what's in there, we'll wait until we can scan it back at base"

"Copy that, we could use another pair of hands to get it back"

Steve answers before Bobbi has a chance to "I want to look around a bit more, something still doesn't sit right with me"

"That's fine Steve, I'll help them get it out of here, just don't take too long"

"Copy that Bobbi, I won't take so long"

As Bobbi reaches the room where the crate is, she sees Hunter and Romanoff standing around it. They pick it up and start taking it towards the entrance when Bobbi reaches for her comm "Skye, what's going on outside?"

Typing can be heard from Skye's side "Traffic in and out seems to have stopped, the guards that you didn't kill don't seem to have noticed anything wrong, somehow"

"Without the running commentary, Skye" Bobbi sighs, but good naturedly

"Sorry Bobbi, since you're going to be taking the crate with you, you're best bet is probably the east gate, you'll need to take out the guards and you probably have about 5 minutes before the patrol passes by" Skye rattles off quickly.

"What's the plan boss, take them out?" Romanoff asks.

"Skye, are you certain that you've blocked all outside communication?"

"100 percent, they don't know it, but any call for help wouldn't get through" Skye answers confidently.

"Good, then we take them out, how many guards are still up?"

"The four each on the front and east gates, three man patrol, and a two at the front entrance of the facility"

"Ok, Romanoff, take the patrol and entrance guards, Hunter, get the east gate guards, and I'll take the ones at the main entrance, are we clear?"

"Yes Ma'am"

They leave the crate just outside the back door, hidden from view, and go towards their targets. The patrol are just coming around the back so Natasha quickly dispatches of them. Hunter creeps towards the east gate as Bobbi and Natasha move round the front from either side. They both the two guarding the entrance. Bobbi looks towards Natasha "One each?"

"Of course, on three"

They take the shots and the guards go down immediately. Hunter then comes across the line "East entrance clear, heading to secure the crate"

Bobbi looks towards Natasha "Go help him, I've got these guys"

Natasha nods and starts heading back and joins up with Hunter. In just under a couple of minutes Bobbi joins them, wiping the blood off of her knife "Rogers, how's it going in there?"

"Encountered minimal resistance, not found anything yet but still looking, I'll meet you back at the evac"

"Just make it quick" May snapped over the line.

The three managed to get the crate back to the Quinnjet fairly quickly, but they hadn't heard anything from Rogers.

"Steve what's happening" Bobbi said.

All of a sudden loud static could be heard from Steve's end "Thin- fou- som-... Shi-"and then his comm went dead.

"Shit" May said, turning to Skye "Can you see him on the cameras?"

Skye was starting to increasingly panic "No I've been tracking him but when he went into this section" She pointed to an area on the floor plan "The cameras were just static and I can't get a visual.

* * *

 **Sorry for the cliffhanger, I just couldn't help myself! More to come soon hopefully and I hope you enjoyed so far!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm sorry a continuation's taken so long for those who were waiting for it, and I'm sorry it's so short. I just really lost my motivation to write because I lost confidence in my writing, that's still there but I figured I'd just push through and see what I could get done. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 5

"I thought you were dead"

"That was the idea Rogers"

"So what happens now?"

"I'm so glad you asked, you see there's a couple different ways this can go down, option one, you come with me nice and quietly, I take you to the boss man so he can have a nice friendly one on one with you, this options probably your best bet"

"Oh yeah, and why is that exactly?"

"Well you could always go with option two, I order my men to blow your little quinjet out of the sky, what you honestly think we didn't have a way of tracking it?"

"Oh I know you do, but I'm also guessing whatever's is in that crate is important enough to warrant all this, especially someone like you being here"

"How do you know that it wasn't just an elaborate plan to draw shied, and by extension, you here?"

"If it was, you'd have already killed us"

"The plan was always to capture you Rogers, you're too valuable to Hydra for us to just kill you, and your team are useful insurance, make sure you come nice and quietly"

"Suppose I don't have much of a choice then"

"I was hoping you'd come around to see it my way"

"The alternative doesn't sit too well with me"

"Oh I'm well aware of that. Well, we best get moving! Don't wont to keep the boss waiting, he's, eh, not the patient type"

"Looking forward to meeting him"

"Oh! Almost forgot, before we go, do me a favour and hand over any trackers, weapons and comms etc., if you'd be so kind. Just leave them on the ground is fine, except the shield, I'll take that"

Steve relinquishes all his equipment, knowing it's the only way to keep his team safe. As they are walking away from the building, it all of a sudden goes up in a massive ball of fire, Steve knows his chances of getting out of this alive are looking pretty slim as it stands, but knowing that his decision keeps his team safe, shield safe, for now, he knows he's made the right one.

 **Right, well I'll hopefully have another chapter up soon so keep an eye out for that. Tell me what you think, who would you like this mystery character to be and how you'd like to see the story continue!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks everyone for all the feedback and reviews, chapters probably won't be coming this fast normally but I'll try and keep a regular upload schedule. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Chapter 6

Steve was handcuffed to the chair, after feeling around a little, he could tell these were much stronger than your average handcuffs and even with his strength he wouldn't be able to break free. He began to analyse his surroundings, it was better waiting around for the inevitable, he supposed. He was currently in the passenger seat of a quinjet, with 8 Hydra soldiers in the back, and his captor in the seat beside him.

"I've got to admit Rumlow, surviving a building collapsing on top of you is pretty impressive, but I'm not going to lie, you look like shit"

Rumlow chuckles to his side, a dark, menacing laugh of a man two steps ahead, but he stayed quiet. Steve decided to push his luck a little.

"You can't possibly buy into all this 'Hail Hydra' shit right? You never seemed the type"

At this, Rumlow spun his chair around to face Steve, activating the auto-pilot, though he still looked unnervingly relaxed. "You caught me there Cap, nah I'm a soldier, not a cult member, something I'd think you'd be able to understand more than anyone"

"Not sure I follow Rumlow"

"They can call you Captain America, a Superhero, an avenger, but we both know that you're a soldier till the end. You know about the horrors of war, the necessities, the decisions you need to make, the ones that make it hard to sleep at night. We're two sides of the same coin, you Shield, me Hydra"

"There's a difference between fighting to protect, and fighting to control. Hydra doesn't want world peace, to end war, you thrive on conflict, you'll kill indiscriminately, doesn't matter if innocent people get hurt or not. I've made my peace with the fact that there's times when I'll have no choice but to kill, you on the other hand don't need to, you live for the fight, for the kill."

Another chuckle "You know back when Shield was still whole, before Insight, they called you a boy scout, 'Captain Morals' who only saw things in black and white, believed wholeheartedly in God and Country. That's not what I saw when I looked at you, I saw a killer, a warrior who knew what needed to be done, a soldier" Rumlow shakes his head "I looked up to you, saw what I wanted to become, a man who knew what needed to be done, but despite all that, could never fully bring himself to do it. You hold onto ideals we both know are bullshit, can never be achieved"

He shouldn't be having this conversation, knew exactly what Rumlow was trying to do here, manipulate him into seeing things his way, it wouldn't work "You think that's what Hydra's about, making a better world? Pierce really drilled that shit into your brain, didn't he? It's true that it's not the same Hydra I fought in the past, you know, slightly less Nazi-ish, no crazy skull cult leader, but underneath it all, you're still the same, thinking you're better than everyone, that you get to play god"

"That's where you're wrong Steve, we're what Shield isn't, what it needs to be. We understand the real threats to this world, and how to deal with them. Remember, Insight came from your own Fury, but we just happened to have different targets in mind, we really aren't that different at all Steve, you'll come to get that"

Suddenly the quinjet starts to slow down, and he can feel it start descending.

"Well Cap, as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, it time you met the boss, it'll go a lot better for you if just cooperate, though I've got the feeling that's not going to happen"

Steve takes a deep breath as he's led into the hanger of what looks to be an underground base, knowing that it's going to take everything he has to survive what's coming.

* * *

 **A/N: Right well, the mystery man has been revealed. I know he may seem a little out of character, but I think he was left unexplored enough that you can take a few liberties. Let me know what you think of the direction the story's taking. In terms of pairings, I don't think that it will be the main focus of the story but I'm still open to suggestions of who people would like to see ending up together, thanks! Oh, next chapter will be back with Shield and their reactions.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _ **Hello! So I know I'm a terrible person for not uploading but this went to the back of my priority list unfortunately, I'm not going to make excuses. Hopefully this will be me back into the swing of things and I'll be able to update more often, no promises though. Thanks for reading!**_

They watched as the facility went up in flames.

"Rogers!"

"Holy shit"

"Did we do that?"

"It wasn't us"

"Rogers, can you hear me? Answer your damn comms you son of a bitch" Natasha seethed and paced around the Quinjet, internally though she felt like the little girl in the red room all those years ago, scared and confused. He had to be ok, he was Steve, and he had to be ok. "We need to go back, we have to get him back"

At this, Bobbi cautiously approached her friend, she had never seen her in this state, not even when Loki had taken Clint. She felt like she was nearing a wild beast, the usually coldly composed Natasha was tearing at the seams. "Nat, no one could have survived that blast, not even a super-soldier, and if he had, we would have heard from him, I'm sorry"

"That's bullshit and you know it, Steve has survived much worse, we need to go back"

At this, May speaks up "We have our orders, we need to get this package back to bass" She said in an uncharacteristically soft voice, knowing better than to set the Black Widow off.

"Screw the package, screw our orders. Steve would have turned this jet around and searched night and day if he thought that there was even a slight chance we could have survived"

Hunter, who had been solemnly quiet, spoke up "She's right you know, I had barely known him, but I can always tell when a guy will have my back, and he had it ten times over."

May looked sympathetic "I can drop you off, and request a search and rescue crew be sent asap, I really do hope you find him"

Natasha came over and placed a delicate hand on May's shoulder "Thank you May, really"

Once out of the Quinjet, they began desperately searching for any sign at all of the Captain.

Natasha's still frantic voice crackled along the comms "Have you two found anything yet?"

"Nothing here" Hunter sighed across the line.

"Bobbi?"

Natasha could hear the hesitation in her voice, and it sent her spiralling "Nat, you need to come see this"

She thinks it's the quickest she's ever ran, and in the end, she wished she hadn't. When she reached Bobbi's side, she dropped to her knees, a chocked sob echoing through the silence.

"No … please no"

In between the rubble at her feet lay the symbol of the man that had helped keep her going when all was thought lost, the man who made her laugh and just for a moment made her forget that she was a cold-blooded killer, an assassin of the highest order, made her feel like she could be Nat, for the first time in her life.

Here lay the shield of Captain Steve Rogers, stripped of its paint and caked in ash, dirtied by the world around it, a pure and honest symbol of hope and of the man who wielded it.

Here lay the final resting place of Captain America.

 _ **So, the team think good Ol' cap has kicked it, so what does that mean for him, no rescue perhaps? Suppose we'll have to find out. I wanted to make a point with that final section, that maybe Captain America did die in that explosion, and while what walked out was still Steve rogers, still good, he also something different, something new. Anyways, thanks for reading my drivel!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**I once again apologise to anyone still reading this, my schedules been hectic as anything recently so this story has fell on the back burner. I wanted to release this short chapter to let you guys know i'm still working on it.**

* * *

"Something's not right here"

"Of course something's not right, Captain Fucking America is dead. Nothing about this is right"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Nothing about this adds up, Captain America's dead, but we've searched this place for hours and we've not found a single bone, not a single trace of fibre from his uniform"

"Maybe it all disintegrated in the blast?"

"But data from our scanners shows all that was used was conventional explosives, nothing that would be able to destroy every shred of evidence that he was even caught up in the blast. Plus, we've found the remains of multiple others identified as not being him"

"Maybe we've just not found his yet"

"But we've scoured every inch of this place and nothing, like I said, it doesn't add up"

"Maybe we should report that back to HQ"

"Yeah that's kind of what I was getting at Felix"

"Alright alright, point taken"

The tired looking agent put a finger to his ear "This is Agent Dunton, get me Agent Coulson, we have a potential development he's going to want to hear about"

Shield HQ

The conference room was filled with downtrodden and saddened faces as Coulson came striding in and set himself up in the centre. "Alright, I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you all here"

At this Natasha pipes up, lacking all her usual charm "Could we move this along? There's a lot of arrangements I need to be seeing to"

"That's exactly why I've called this meeting. We have reason to believe that Steve Rogers wasn't in the building when it went up" At this, all eyes were focused on Coulson and a hundred questions were shot at Coulson all at once.

Through all of the noise, Natasha quietly spoke up "We found his shield Phil, we lost contact with him" At this, everyone quietened once again, giving Coulson a chance to continue.

"Exactly, it doesn't add up, from your reports, you lost contact with the Captain several minutes before the explosion, and the area he was searching mysteriously also lost its camera feeds. On top of all of this, there was no traces of Steve found on the premises, even though we identified and accounted for all of the Hydra agents. Due to all of this, we have very good reason to believe that Captain Rogers is alive, and has been taken captive by Hydra for an unknown purpose"

There was no chance for any of them to be jovial as even though there is the possibility that Steve is alive out there, Hydra likely has him, which many would consider a fate worse than death.

The team stood there, absorbing all of this new information and surprisingly Bobbi was the first to speak up "So what's our first move boss?"

"We shake the tree, see what falls out, chase any potential lead that might take us to Hydra" He then turns to face Natasha alone "I want to keep this internal, no avengers, we need to keep this quiet. The world isn't too hot on them right now and the last thing we need is another Sokovia on our hands"

Natasha nods in understanding.


End file.
